Flight withdrawal to hit veggie exports

Amritsar: Export of perishable goods from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to Europe would be hit hard if Air India sticks to its decision to withdraw the Amritsar-London-Toronto flight from next month, say export houses. The Air India website is already advising passengers, who are trying to book seats in October/November, to catch the Delhi-London-Toronto flight from there.
The Perishable Cargo Centre at the Rajasansi International Airport has been handling the export of baby corns, snow peas, sugar snap, okra and other vegetables to London since July, 2006. While it is faster, cheaper and easier to transport fresh vegetables from Himachal Pradesh and Ludhiana to Amritsar, it would take longer and be more expensive to shift the cargo to Delhi, they claimed. Countries like Thailand, Kenya and Guatemala would gain at India’s cost, said Alok Dubey of Field Fresh Food Private Limited.
Both Dubey and Sahib Singh of ‘Namdhari Farm Fresh Private Limited’ point out that it would take eight hours or more, compared to three hours now, to carry the cargo by road to Delhi, where the trucks would have to cope with traffic snarls and where they cannot enter during the day.
12/09/10 Neeraj Bagga/The Tribune

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India - International Sep 2010, Cargo Sep 2010, NACIL Sep 2010